HAM OF THE MONTH

The Ham of the Month is JR, WB7WVO! He won my vote by submitting a lovely article for our enjoyment. It can be found in this issue of the SHARC Newsletter. Thanks again for the submission!

NOTICE!!

If you have not paid your dues by now you may not receive Rain or Sharc Newsletters in April. Please state whether or not you are an ARRL Member with your payment.

HUMOR

Communication can come in many forms.

This picture was sent over packet by Jaye, KE6SLS! The blurred image is from the original picture and not from being sent over packet. In case you can’t read it, the Tee Shirt says, "I am a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up!"

CLUB INFORMATION

PRESIDENT: Margaret Brown, KF6FBP VICE PRESIDENT: Cliff Banfill KE6VDE TREASURER: Jack Foster, KM6TE SECRETARY: Jerry Wilson, KF6IBP EC FOR THIS AREA: Jack Foster KM6TE MONDAY NIGHT EMERGENCY NET AT 7 PM on the 146.790 repeater system. All amateurs are invited to run the net and check in. We also welcome scenarios. The Club is thinking of giving a year free membership, maybe a nice 2 meter J-pole or some nice prize to the winner of the Net raffle as an incentive to run the net. “So don’t be shy and give it a try.”

H.F. NET on Monday night after Emergency Net on 28.400MHz Humboldt Emergency Monday Night H.F. Net: 3.960Mhz (aprox) @ 7:45 PST Listen for KM6TE. Subscription rate: $10 per year Membership: $25 per year Ask about our family rate. We have an Open Phone patch! All donations are cheerfully retained! The calling area for the phone patch is as if one is calling from Garberville, Ca. 95542 DUES AND OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS CAN BE MAILED TO: S.H.A.R.C. PO BOX 701 REDWAY, CA 95560

THE REGULAR CLUB MEETING IS THE FOURTH TUESDAY OF THE MONTH AND IS HELD AT TELEPAL IN GARBERVILLE AT 7 PM. (Next to Sentry Market) Sharc Web Page: http://www.sharc-ca.org EDITOR’S ADDRESS: Cory Allen KN6ZU PO BOX 273 REDCREST, CA. 95569 PACKET MAIL: KN6ZU-1 On 145.730

CORRECTION!

Well at least Joe, KA6ROM, reads the newsletter! Hi! He found a mistake in my article about the milepost markers. The milepost markers on state highways are taken from the southern border on north-south highways. The highways going west-east are measured from the west end. In other words, if one is on Highway 101 it is measured from the southern border no matter if one is going north or south. A west/east example would be Highway 36. It is measured where it meets Highway 101 on the west end. One would think this would be the standard throughout the state. This may not be the case on the back-roads of a certain county. If you are reporting an incident, it is a good idea to give the county in which you are just in case there is doubt as to your location. Thanks Joe for the feedback. Anyone else find any other "bloopers"? Just let me know! 73 from your "Bumble Editor"

Submitted by JR WB7WVO

Hi Cory, I thought I would write a small article for the paper. You do a great job, but there are a lot of stories out there that need to be pried out of the ham’s heads. Mine also. So here goes... My name is William Maxwell, known affectionately as JR and not as XXX*@#. I am a temporary inhabitant of Humboldt county living in Richardson Campground (the old KOA). My wife, Ginger, KA7LXM, and Nathanel, my son, are MAPS workers. We work for the Lord at Bible campgrounds. We are from Montana and will return to Hungry Horse mountain in April. Except for the constant wetness of the winter, it has been great here and the friendliness of all the hams well be remembered until I run out of memory.

I visit a lot of ham websites and I will say that S.H.A.R.C. has a very GOOD emergency plan and implementation and can be complimented. (Someone should write a small article and send it to CQ, 73, World Radio, and QST..) We are members of the Yellowstone ARC in Billings Montana. (ke7efa.mcn.net) I have HF and VHF in the trailer. I can run Packet with a C-65 and PK-64 interface. If someone would like to drop in and help me with getting on the air, I would get on packet. It operates, but I can’t seem to connect. My HF is all bands from 160-10 meters. I am using a program called DigiPan which is a PSK-31 spin off. Its a digital program using the sound card of your computer for the interface. A simple cable from the headphone out to the sound card in-mic, and clamping the mic to the computer speaker completes hookup. This is temporary I think. By adjusting everything right it works great. Using VOX to key the radio and adjusting the speaker sound keeps the noise at a minimum, I know, someone will say this arrangement allows extraneous noise to go out over the air. Maybe, but I have it enclosed in a Styrofoam shield and haven’t had any comments yet. Communication is keyboard to keyboard at about 50 wpm. With the radio running 25 watts, I can connect from the east to west with signals to 200hz away from the center frequency and you can choose which signal to reply to. Down load the program or one of the other PSK types, Logger, PSK-31, PSKGNR, DigiPan from the Internet. Just lookem up. I wished I could point the way to DigiPan, but I can’t seem to find it again. It came from Germany in a zip file... I also received my first SSTV picture off the air using the same setup and connections. W95SSTV is the program I used. It’s also freeware. I haven’t sent any pictures yet. I don’t like "wet feet" so I jump slowly. Try them. PSK might get new students involved in ham radio for sure. I was just thinking a laptop with a sound card and HF radio with PSK files can be taken to the classes.

We enjoyed the February meeting very much and will endeavor to be at the March meeting before we leave. The Monday night check-in on two meters keeps me on VHF, but I miss the net-control calling those that checked in a second time for any input. Just saying your name and location, call sign doesn’t seem enough. Maybe a technical question thrown out at the beginning would get more check-ins also. Of course whoever throws out the question must answer. I like the scenarios given too. Maybe there are the same thing and I am not thinking; a habit I have gotten into. Have I said too much or said the wrong things? I hope not, but if I can get one more person interested in something I am, it’s worth it. Question! If you put a tri-bander atop a 200 foot Redwood tree, are you in violation of FCC rules? Just a thought. 73 From JR, WB7WVO

PS. Try this site for information that is astounding and informative. It will make you think and he is a nice guy. If you are a tinkerer or inventor go to: http://gallery.in-tch.com/~samwidge/

OLD BIRD NEW TRICKS

OLD SATELLITE RETOOLED FOR NEW USE

UO-14 is proving that you can teach an old bird new tricks. The venerable British satellite recently was switched to FM repeater mode, and reports

already are coming in from hams who've worked it using pretty modest equipment.

The satellite's controller Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, says UO-14 was launched in January 1990 and spent its first 18 months in orbit operating as an amateur store-and-forward satellite, prior to the launch of UO-22. It was then switched for use by Volunteers In Technical Assistance, who used it for messaging into Africa.

"Since the computer which is used for store-and-forward communications is no longer able to perform that task, UO-14 is no longer usable in this mode," Jackson says. "It is, however, possible to use the satellite as a single-channel FM voice repeater, and I have just configured the satellite to do this."

The satellite works as an "FM bent pipe repeater satellite" in full duplex. Operators with full-duplex transceivers will be able to hear their downlink signal as they transmit. Half-duplex operation also will work satisfactorily.

The uplink is 145.975 MHz, and the downlink is 435.070 MHz. Jackson says he plans to leave the satellite in FM mode for the next few weeks. "If it is

useful, then I will probably leave it running," he said. "If it isn't used, it will be switched to transmitting telemetry."

Houston AMSAT Coordinator Bruce Paige, KK5DO, says no more than 5 W is required to make a contact with UO-14, and some have made it with as little as 1.5 W. "It should be a very suitable bird for those with an H-T and a rubber duck," he said.

"Cool satellite!" was the reaction of W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, who worked 11 stations during a "very short" near-horizon pass this week. "Some of the stations sounded like they were next door!"

SHARC NETS

The Sharc Club has an ARES net every Monday night at 7 P.M. local on the linked 146.790- 146.940 MHz. repeaters. All amateurs are encouraged to participate. You may also be net control by asking. It is always good practice to do so. We invite any scenario for the benefit of training for disaster. This can be as simple as making all participants write the location, name, and call of each ham checking into the net or more elaborate such as the repeater is not on the air. We have an emergency net on 28.400 MHz right after the VHF net closes. We also have a net on the H.F. band (3.962Mhz) plus or minus at 7:45 PM local. You can listen to the results on the Humboldt OES ARES net on 3.992Mhz.

HEARD THE NEWS?

PRB-1 BILL INTRODUCED IN CALIFORNIA SENATE

California has become the latest state to consider PRB-1 legislation. ARRL Southwestern Director Fried Heyn, WA6WZO, reports Senate Bill 1714 was introduced February 23 in the California Senate.

Like a similar PRB-1 measure passed last year by Virginia's General Assembly, the California bill would require localities to accommodate Amateur Radio antennas of up to 200 feet, according to local population density.

Echoing the language of the PRB-1 limited federal preemption, the measure says that local ordinances regulating antenna placement, screening or height "shall reasonably accommodate amateur radio antennas and shall impose the minimum regulation necessary to accomplish the legitimate purpose of the city or county."

Under the proposed bill, cities or counties with population densities of 120 persons or less per square mile (according to the 1990 US Census) would not be able to restrict Amateur Radio antennas to less than 200 feet above ground. Localities having population densities greater than 120 people per square mile would not be able to restrict ham antennas to less than 75 feet above ground. In both cases, localities would not be allowed to restrict the number of support structures.

The bill stipulates that "reasonable and customary engineering practices" be followed in erecting Amateur Radio antennas. The bill would not preclude localities from regulating amateur antennas with respect to the use of screening, setback and placement, and health and safety requirements.

Heyn credited Michael Mitchell, W6RW, with helping to get the bill introduced, and he asked California amateurs and clubs to contact their state lawmakers to support the measure.